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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 2011)
A FAIR TO REMEMBER Plug Into EW’s New Community Stage Local musicians rock the fair F For a Good Time, Call Tommy Tutone dials up the Lane County Fair T here is no shame in being a one-hit wonder. Why should there be? We can’t all be the Beatles or Mariah Carey. And when you take to mind the fact that the vast majority of human beings don’t even record music — much less record a song that charts at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 — it begins to seem a bit jejune to trash on a band that at least once reached such rarefi ed heights of mass popularity. Can you say Muh-muh-muh-muh My Sharona? In 1982, Tommy Tutone released “867-5309/Jenny,” a terminally catchy pop rocker that continues, nearly three decades on, to inspire snickering knuckleheads to dial out drunkenly and ask for the titular dream girl. When I, snickering, dialed the number with a Eugene area code, I encountered the universal “If you feel you have reached this recording in error” recording, which defi nitely lowered my excitement to about half-mast. Jenny, Jenny, who can I turn to? You give me somethin’ I can hold on to, I know you think I’m like the others before, Who saw your name and number on the wall. The Wikipedia entry for “867-5309/Jenny” is double the length of the Wikipedia entry for the band itself, so I persisted, this time dialing out with a Boston area code. A mellifl uous female voice answered, asking me, royally, “How can we make you smile?” But, alas, it wasn’t Jenny. Did she ever get calls for Jenny? “We get a few,” she said breathily. How many? “I have to end this,” she said. “I’m sorry.” Talk about one hit, right below the belt. Like every other sad sack who’s tried to call Jenny only to have his heart broken and his dreams dashed — and there have been at least 8,675,309 calls since 1982 — I was left with nothing but that chronically singable song and its seven heavenly digits. Oh, but what a song it is. Tommy Tutone plays 7:30 pm Friday, Aug. 19, at the Lane County Fair; FREE with admission. — Rick Levin Enroll Open Now House DRINKING GOURD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Ì Grades Grades K-5 K-3 Ì Classes Classes of of 15 10 students students Placement Ì Advanced WĞĂĐĞĞĚƵĐĂƟ ŽŶ dgschool.org 689-5255 2809 Shirley Eugene BETTY AND THE BOY For full line-up, see pg. 25 ROSHAN MALONEY RECYCLERS AT THE FAIR Experts on recycling and other pursuits of sustainable living will be on hand at the Lane County Fair at a booth on the Midway next to EWEB’s water and cooling station. Representatives of several programs including Master Recyclers, Compost Specialists, Climate Masters at Home and Master Gardeners will offer advice and literature. The recently updated Repair2Reuse Guide will be available, listing more than 80 local businesses that “help keep the things we already have in working order,” according to organizers. Information will be available on BRING Recycling, Materials Exchange Center for Community Arts (MECCA), and NextStep Recycling; and despite cutbacks in local funding, the OSU Extension Service still has resources online at http://wkly.ws/13l and trained volunteers in the community. D ONALD D EXTER J R DMD LLC DENTISTRY Our vision is simple – we believe in integrity above all else, and we serve those who are seeking a trusted source for their dental care Browse our website or call if you have any questions! We look forward to providing your care. O P $500/MONTH E TUITION: N HOUSE Wed., Dec. 15, 6-8PM 14 AUGUST 18, 2011 or the fi rst time ever at the Lane County Fair, EW is sponsoring its very own stage, which will be decked out and supersnazzed with an electric, eclectic line-up of local musi- cians sure to knock the socks off Gran- ny Mae, kick the boogie to Uncle Boots and make the kids jump the hay for days. Everything from folk and fanfare to blues and rock will be represented at EW’s debutante debut into the fair freak — miss this coming-out party and you’ve only got your brain to blame. Located at the Community Stage, our funky and free (with admission) foray into county fair festivities will feature such melodic luminaries as Scott Austin , Boomchick , Betty and the Boy , Roshan Maloney and Saint Krampus , to name but a few. This is your chance to get sun-soaked, deep-fried and worse-for-wear by checking out a fantastic, three-day bill (starting at Friday, noon, and running till 5 pm Sunday) of Next Best Thing, Eugene fi nalists like Tyler Fortier and Judy Vogelsang , along with other long-established or up-and- coming artists. So grab an elephant ear, chug a lug and put your funny shoes on at the EW’s Community Stage, where all good things happen. — Rick Levin EUGENE WEEKLY 2233 W ILLAMETTE S T , B LDG B • 541-485-6644 w w w. d r d e x t e r. c o m WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
